Fairy Godmother

picking. 'The Prince has returned. I think you had better see him.'

Elena looked up; Rose looked as if she had seen something she still could not believe, yet dared not disbelieve. She looked shocked, rather than smug, but shocked as in having her own view of the world turned upside down, rather than if something truly dreadful had happened to the Prince that even she was appalled by.

So. He's returned in triumph, I suspect! Elena took a deep breath, and let it out in a sigh of relief, all of her tension going with it. It was over, and it had gone well. Alexander had passed the trial — and apparently managed to do a great deal better than merely pass it.

Behind his curtain, she heard Randolf chuckle with immense satisfaction. Rose did not even glance his way.

'Very well, I'll come down,' Elena said, setting aside the chronicle she was reading. Rose turned and was gone by the time she reached the door onto the staircase.

She went down the stairs and passed through the parlor and the library, and noted that most of the books had left the parlor, though whether the House-Elves had moved them or they had moved themselves, she could not say. What mattered was that the new library room must have opened up in the night. I shall have to look into that in a bit, she thought, hastening her steps at the sound of voices in the kitchen.

There she found all of the House-Elves, Rose included, and Alexander. They were standing; he was sitting at the table, dressed in hunting-gear, cradling a cup of ale, and looking bewildered.

There was no doubt why Rose had reacted to the sight of him in the way that she had. The amount of magic about him was matched only by the magic that had swirled around Octavian when it was time for him to return to Kohlstania. But that could have been explained away — what could not be explained away was the forms that had been laid over him, and that was what had given Rose her shock.

The same forms had been laid upon Elena, though she had not known it, when she was accepted as an Apprentice. The Elf-Queen's mark was on the Prince, in the form of a crimson bird with flaming wings, the sign of the Protector, laid over his head and shoulders, visible to those with the eyes to see magic, and — yes, the Elf- King's as well, a circlet of emerald fire around his brow that raised a narrow, mild-eyed head at her approach and showed itself to be, not a circlet at all, but the emerald serpent, the symbol of Wisdom. Both would fade in time, probably by morning — but the mark upon the spirit was there for all time.

There it was. The Elven Royalty had accepted him. If he chose to remain here, he could not be turned away. Small wonder that Rose had been shaken.

Alexander looked up at the sound of her footstep, and it was very clear from his expression that he was utterly bewildered. She knew how he felt; to see magic itself, raw and primal, for the first time, and not to know what it was — he must think himself going mad.

'It's all right,' she said, immediately, and sat down beside him, patting his hand. 'You're not moonstruck. The Elves marked you, and when they did, they opened your eyes to see magic. You must have some magical ability of your own, or they wouldn't have been able to do that. It means that not only did you pass the trial they set you, but they've accepted you as a kind of — of Knight of Magic. Like I am, actually. You have to be able to see magic to use it with finesse. If you can see it, you can do more with a very little ability than someone with more ability, but unable to see.'

'It's — very disorienting,' he said carefully.

'Just want it to go away,' she told him. 'These things answer to the trained will, and I know you have that; all that military training you had must have given you discipline. At first, it might help to close your eyes before you concentrate on making it go away. Then, when you want to see magic again, want it to come back. It's probably the easiest of all of the magic powers to control.'

He closed his eyes and opened them again, and relief spread over his features. 'It's gone!'

'I told you it would be.' She patted his hand again. 'I don't think you heard me the first time — you've passed your final trial, Prince Alexander, just like your brother. Would you like to go home?'

That last cost her to ask, but the offer had to be made. And if he said yes, she would have to honor his request.

But he opened his mouth, then closed it again, without saying anything. Then opened it again. 'I'm a magician?' he asked, instead of answering her.

They all nodded, even Rose. 'Now that you can see magic, even though you don't know how to use it yet, aye,' said Hob. 'And seeing it, you'll train up right quick.'

He looked thoughtful. 'How powerful am I?' he asked, this time looking to Elena.

She shook her head. 'I don't know for certain,' she cautioned, 'but I would guess, not very. No more than a country Witch or a Hedge-Wizard. If you were more powerful than that, you'd have come into your powers earlier, and you'd at least have felt them — every day, all the time, as if there was something you should be doing, something amazing that was going to happen to you, though you didn't know what it was.'

He rubbed at a scratch on his cheek, absently. 'What about now and again feeling like there was someone looming over me, watching me?'

'Hedge-Wizard,' all the Brownies chorused at once, with Rose looking relieved. 'That's just the sense that the power is there, lad,' said Hob. 'As it was, of course; it looms over everyone born royal, from time to time. Now — huh. I've a thought — '

He glanced at Elena, who nodded encouragement.

'Well,' he said slowly. 'It's been a long, long time since I've seen such a man, but it's also a long time since anyone wizard-born was also warrior-trained — it comes to me that you don't need a lot of magic to be a Champion.'

'A what?' asked Elena, but she was drowned out by a chorus of what sounded like fervent curses from the other three House-Elves.

'Now why didn't I see that coming?' Lily said aloud, throwing her hands up in the air. 'Of course!'